


The Sweetest Satinalia

by Earlgreyer



Series: The Twelve Days of Fever [11]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Adoption, Deaf Character, M/M, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 19:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9198884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Earlgreyer/pseuds/Earlgreyer
Summary: There is a very special Satinalia gift this year.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my final contribution to The Twelve Days of Fever, and it’s the one that is the most special to me because it is set it in my A Lawyer and an Architect Walk Into a Bar storyline. I am once again incredibly grateful to rachel4revenge for letting me use her OC Dio. Somehow this little boy wormed his way into my heart and I just can’t seem to let him go.
> 
> Disclaimer: I am not hard-of-hearing or deaf. The actions of my characters with regard to signing, etc are solely based on my experience with a young HOH family member, and my own research/study of ASL. If you see any errors in my depiction, please let me know and I’ll happily update accordingly!
> 
> TSL stands for Thedosian Sign Language and in my stories I have patterned it after American Sign Language. For ease of understanding, and reading flow, I have italicized Dio’s signed-only dialogue. He does not vocalize. Anything said by other characters with Dio present should be assumed to be spoken as well as signed, unless otherwise indicated.
> 
> ASL isn’t signed in the same manner as spoken or written English. It is more truncated and sentence structure is different. For story flow I have written dialog using English grammar forms, but please assume that the characters are not signing every word they are saying.

Felix had always been a light sleeper. Carver would joke that Felix could hear when his eyelids opened. So waking up Satinalia morning to the sound of footsteps on the stairs wasn’t a surprise. Felix elbowed Carver gently. “Darling, as much as I’d love to stay here wrapped in your arms, I believe we have a six-year-old who is eager to open his gifts.”

Carver grumbled and pulled him closer. “He didn’t come in and wake us up. That means we can sleep.”

Carver always made staying in bed _so_ tempting, but Felix prodded him again. “Carv, he’s six. He’s excited and he’s already downstairs in the living room. We need to get up, love.” Felix lifted one of Carver’s hands from around his waist and kissed his knuckles. “Come on, darling. Remember how excited you were when you were little?” Carver groaned loudly and kissed the back of his head before rolling away. Felix patted Carver’s hip and sat up. He scratched his head and pushed up into a standing position, then shuffled into the bathroom to brush his teeth and use the toilet. Carver stumbled in a minute later and kissed his cheek before sleepily hogging up the space in front of the sink. Felix smiled indulgently and let him have the space, heading back into the bedroom to find his slippers and pull on a sweater over his flannel sleep pants. _Actual dressing can wait until after caffeine and presents_.

Carver came back into the bedroom and stood next to the bed, arms stretched above his head in a mouthwatering display of bare skin and flexing muscle, and Felix had to take a moment to catch his breath. Even after eight years together, married for two, Carver could still make his pulse race with just a look. Felix slipped his arms around him, resting his hands on his tight stomach and kissed his cheek. “Good morning sexy husband.”

Carver immediately turned, wrapped him in a bear hug and buried his face in his neck. “Let’s go back to bed. I’ll make it worth your while.” Felix sighed and shivered at the open mouthed kisses Carver placed along his neck.

“Carv, you make it very tempting. But as incredible as that would be, this morning isn’t about us.” Felix reluctantly extricated himself from Carver’s embrace and squeezed his hand. “I’ll start the coffee. Come down soon. OK?” Carver nodded and Felix kissed his cheek and headed downstairs.

He expected to find Dio in the living room combing through presents, but he wasn’t. Felix went into the kitchen and stopped short at the door. Dio was sitting at the table in his flannel pajamas, reading a book and eating a bowl of cereal, bare feet swinging. _He’s growing so fast!_ Felix flicked the light switch on and off and Dio looked up, grin already lighting up his beautiful features.

“Good morning, love,” Felix said, signing the words as he spoke them.

Dio jumped down from his chair and ran to hug him around the waist, squeezing tightly. Felix hugged him and ruffled his hair. Dio stepped back and signed, _Happy Satinalia, Papa_. The sign Dio used to designate him versus Carver still made him smile: a quick tap of his thumb to his temple, palm open, fingers splayed wide in a five formation, followed by the flap of his little hands right in front of his chest. _Book papa_.

“Happy Satinalia. I see you’ve made yourself breakfast. Why don’t you finish eating? Once daddy comes downstairs we’ll open gifts!” Felix always spoke as he signed. It was a habit he’d grown up with, signing for his hard-of-hearing grandmother, and speaking so others would know what he was saying to her. Now he signed and spoke for Carver’s benefit. The entire Hawke clan was learning TSL, and speaking helped them follow along.

A few minutes later Carver stumbled into the kitchen, looking adorable in his sweatpants and an over-sized hoodie, sporting a severe case of bedhead. He kissed Felix on the cheek, accepted his mug of coffee and turned to Dio, who was engrossed in his book. Carver squeezed Felix’s hand and moved across the kitchen to the table, knocking on the wooden top so Dio would look up.

The minute he saw Carver, his face lit up. _Daddy_! Carver’s name sign was father plus the sign for big, hands spreading wide in front of Dio’s chest. _Big_ was the first word Dio had signed at Carver when they first met at the Adoption and Foster Care Services office, almost two years before, and it had stuck. Dio hopped out of his chair and hugged him tightly. Carver picked him up and squeezed him back, kissing his cheeks over and over until he giggled. _Stop! Stop! Your beard is tickling me!_

Carver kissed him once more and set him down before saying and signing a bit haltingly, “You ready to open gifts?”

 _Yes! Yes!_ Dio grabbed his hand and pulled him over to Felix. _Let’s go!_ He took Felix’s hand and dragged them both into the living room, pulling them over to the sofa. _You sit there. I’ll get the presents!_

He was off in a flash, sifting through the gifts, bringing two back and handing one to each of them. Felix smiled. “Thank you, darling. But you open yours first. We can wait.”

Carver tapped Dio on the shoulder to get his attention. “There’s a large box over there.” He pointed at the gifts closest to the fireplace. “See what’s in that one!”

Dio ran back to the gifts and found the one Carver had indicated. He grinned and tore open the wrapping, tossing it aside and staring open mouthed at the motorcycle helmet in his hands. He began jumping up and down. _Daddy, I can ride on the motorcycle with you now! Papa, can I?_

Felix had been the one to ban the bike, fearing for Dio’s safety. Not that he thought Carver was a dangerous driver, but Dio was so young he had worried he’d fall off too easily. “Yes. You may ride the motorcycle, but only with Daddy. And you be very careful! Alright?” He still wasn’t sure it was a great idea but Carver had promised he’d be cautious, and Dio had wanted to ride ever since the day he’d seen the Harley.

 _Yes! I promise!_ Dio turned to Carver. _Daddy, can we ride later?_

Carver laughed at his enthusiasm. “Yes. After lunch. Now, what’s in that one over there?” Carver pointed to an oddly shaped box to Dio’s left.

Dio set down the helmet, picked up the next gift, and tried to figure out what it was by shape and weight but couldn’t. He quickly tore off the wrapping, and stared at the image on the box in surprise and wonder. He ran to Felix and hugged him tightly. _I love it, Papa! Will you help me build it?_

Felix grinned. “Yes. We can work on it together. Maybe after your ride.” Felix was particularly happy that Dio liked this gift, since it was entertaining as well as educational. He’d already demonstrated a mechanical aptitude, building elaborate structures out of toy construction sets. Both Felix and Carver were happy to help encourage the interest. “When we’re all done you’ll have your own robot that we built ourselves!”

Dio worked his way through the rest of the gifts on the floor, then passed out thank-you kisses and hugs. Felix hugged him back tightly. “You’re welcome, love. But there’s one more.” He looked at Carver. “Do you want to get it?”

Carver smiled at them and went to the desk, pulling out a large envelope. He walked back to the sofa and gave the envelope to Dio, who turned it over curiously. _What is it?_

“Open it.” Felix could feel Carver nervously jiggling his leg and he gently placed a hand on his knee to still the movement, squeezing reassuringly, even though he was just as nervous. Dio carefully opened the envelope and slid out a small stack of papers, looking at them with a funny mix of confusion and disappointment. “What does it say, love?”

Dio looked at the top paper more closely and his small brow furrowed. Felix could see his eyes sliding back to the top of the paper and re-reading the words slowly before moving to the center of the page. Felix knew the moment Dio understood what he was reading. He looked up at them, tears in his eyes and he very carefully put the papers on the coffee table. His little body was wound tight as a drum. _For real?_

Carver wiped his eyes. “Yes. For real. Are you happy?”

_You are my for real papa and daddy? Forever?_

It was breaking Felix’s heart to see how afraid Dio was that it wasn’t the case. “Yes, love. Forever. You are really our son, and we are really your papa and daddy.”

Dio broke down in tears and ran around the coffee table, flung himself at Felix and reached for Carver, who gladly put his arms around both of them and held on tight. Dio’s grip was almost painful, but Felix didn’t care. He leaned into Carver and gently rubbed Dio’s back, letting him cry his happy tears against his neck. Carver smoothed Dio’s hair and kissed his head, then kissed Felix, who chuckled through his own tears. “I think he liked that last one best.”

Carver laughed too. “Yeah, I’d say so.”

Dio pushed back and gave them stern looks in spite of his tear-stained face. _It isn’t nice to talk when I can’t see you._

Carver held out his arms and Dio climbed into his lap. “True. Sorry, buddy. We were saying we thought that you liked the last gift the best.”

 _I love it!_ He kissed Carver’s cheek, jumped down to pick up the papers, and then crawled back into Carver’s lap. He pointed to the center of the paper where it said, in large print, **Diodore Thomas Alexius-Hawke**. _That’s me! That’s my new name!_

Felix watched his two favorite men cuddle and talk and thought there couldn’t possibly be anyone anywhere in the world having a better Satinalia morning then they were.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading these stories! I had such a great time writing them, and immersing myself back in these characters. It has inspired me to begin the next chunk of story for this particular Fever AU. So there's more Felix and Carver from A Lawyer and an Architect coming soon! 
> 
> If you enjoyed this story I would enjoy hearing about it through Kudos, Comments or come find me on tumblr or twitter and shout about what you liked! I love talking to new people!


End file.
